Sunday, May 25, 2014

Clearing Brush





As the end of May approaches my days of being able to easily reclaim over grown areas has come to an end. With all the extra lawn mowing time, keeping up with the bees, weeding the garden etc. not to mention by this time the undergrowth is just insane. However the Bachelorette and invalid flock is on the scene and ready to go to work.

I cut out about an acre and a half of mostly hayfield for the girls (and one Whether) to keep grazed for me this year but I also added in this section which is one of the last bits I need to clean out. There was an old Mulberry tree here that must have fallen over 20 years ago. The trunk is still there and little weed trees have grown up in the mix of Gooseberry and Wild Rose making an over grown pocket.

The sheep don't care. It's pretty well shaded and has low hanging forage of leaves for a little variety from the clover and grass. They are all over it and have cleaned it out noticeably in only one morning of grazing.

My cloven hooved cadre of grass and brush removal is on the scene and saving me about two hours of mow time a week now. This section is where the Mrs. want's to build the new house so I had been turning it into lawn but now I won't have to keep mowing it. Plus the new driveway will go in and there were a couple of big Cedar trees in here I need to cut down. I went in and cut off the bottom limbs to give the sheep a bit of cover from rain as well. We will run them into the barn at night I think though.

I had a bit of trouble with my big black ewe known as Seven. She was the one who had the miscarriage back in March if you remember. She is such a sweet heart but we left her in with the maternity flock all this time and she kinda forgot what electric fence wire was. She just kept walking through it and her wool is thick enough it didn't get a good zap on her to jog her memory.

Kinda a problem with Sheep and electric fencing especially when you have all different sizes to deal with. The Bachelorette and Invalid flock has about the highest variance in size possible from Mini-Chavoit to mostly Rambouillet mixed. There are only seven sheep (6 ewes and 1 Whether) in this bunch but the largest ewe is in here with the smallest.

What's funny is the largest and the smallest ewes are almost identical personalities when it comes to people. Both were bottle babies in their time and ewes so they are almost pets in a way and instead of about a year of bliss and then the sale barn, or slaughter house, these girls think their only duty in life is eating, giving wool and making babies.

Actually I guess they are right aren't they?

Well now they are my brush clearing and lawn mowing crew.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!


8 comments:

  1. Instead of goats, I should have tried sheep to keep my meadow down.

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    1. Harry - It's been my observation that Sheep are much easier to keep than Goats. The Sheep are much less independent minded and seem to stay together more thereby making them less likely to go through a fence. However the shearing thing is a big pain in the ass for Sheep owners unless they can do it themselves. Sheep shearers are hard to find these days and even harder to get scheduled.

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  2. Five goats will turn an acre of brush into what appears as a nuclear wasteland, in less than a year. Everything will be gone, including the bark on any tree; up to as high as the tallest can reach.

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    1. Jess - Yep. The sheep will do the same thing although I am putting them up at night (at least for now) so that will cut their browse time down a bit.

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  3. They are a great addition to the small hold as far as helping with the mowing LOL plus they can get fat for the butcher.

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    1. Rob - They are already fat. Or some of them are anyway. Mom over feeds em I think.

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  4. PP,

    Any time one can release animals to chew (cut) the grass is a good thing. Less work for you to do!!!!
    Send some of your critters this way, I have to cut the darn grass again.

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    Replies
    1. Sandy - Yep as long as they don't get out and cost me more time chasing em down anyway :)

      I would loan ya sheep if I could :)

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